Ouachita Parish vs St. Tammany Parish

A side-by-side comparison of Ouachita Parish and St. Tammany Parish: population, income, housing, and more.

Ouachita Parish and St. Tammany Parish are counties in Louisiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

St. Tammany Parish has the higher population (269,331 vs 158,916 in Ouachita Parish). St. Tammany Parish has the higher median household income ($79,277 vs $51,241 in Ouachita Parish). St. Tammany Parish has the higher median home value ($272,200 vs $183,000 in Ouachita Parish).

Population, income & housing

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Population	158,916	269,331
Median age	36.6 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$51,241	$79,277
Median home value	$183,000	$272,200
Median gross rent	$923	$1,305
Housing units	70,667	112,414
Homeownership rate	59.5%	78.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.5%	36.6%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Population	155,494 → 158,916 (+2.2%)	255,155 → 269,331 (+5.6%)
Median household income	$41,121 → $51,241 (+24.6%)	$68,905 → $79,277 (+15.1%)
Median home value	$146,700 → $183,000 (+24.7%)	$218,500 → $272,200 (+24.6%)
Median gross rent	$768 → $923 (+20.2%)	$1,086 → $1,305 (+20.2%)

Ouachita Parish

Population

155,494158,916

Median household income

$41,121$51,241

Median home value

$146,700$183,000

Median gross rent

$768$923

St. Tammany Parish

Population

255,155269,331

Median household income

$68,905$79,277

Median home value

$218,500$272,200

Median gross rent

$1,086$1,305

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Under 5	6.5%	5.8%
5 to 17	18.3%	18.0%
18 to 24	9.6%	7.6%
25 to 34	13.6%	11.2%
35 to 44	12.7%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.7%	12.5%
55 to 64	12.2%	13.6%
65 to 74	9.3%	11.1%
75 and over	6.1%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
White (non-Hispanic)	55.6%	73.3%
Black or African American	37.0%	12.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.0%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.4%	0.8%
Two or more races	2.3%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	7.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
No high school diploma	12.0%	8.6%
High school graduate	31.2%	24.0%
Some college or associate's	29.2%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	23.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.0%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Drove alone	80.3%	77.4%
Carpooled	9.0%	7.6%
Public transit	0.9%	0.1%
Walked	1.4%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	7.1%	12.4%
Other means	1.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
1-unit, detached	65.7%	77.4%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	9.9%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	4.9%
20 or more units	2.9%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	14.3%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Ouachita Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Poverty rate	24.0%	12.2%
Average household size	2.53	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	22	31
Median year structure built	1983	1995